Australia’s swimmers lead pack closing gap on US in Tokyo

Relatively poor performance by US in the Olympic pool can only partly be explained by Michael Phelps' retirement

You want to be first?" said Australia's head coach, Rohan Taylor, at the end of the Tokyo 2020 swimming program. Well usually you have to beat an American. They're normally the people that get in the way."

In nine days of action at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, that remained the case. But only just. The United States' medal tally stood at 11 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze. By anyone else's standards, it would be an almighty haul. For America, it was their worst Olympic performance since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.